Change the Record: James Blake – “Trying Times”

It’s not a controversial statement to say that we are living in very trying times. Checking the news often feels like finding a new reason to start metaphorically “crafting Molotov cocktails,” and increasingly, our lives in this miserable, turmoil-filled existence feel like one struggle to keep going. In times like these, the most common thing to turn to for comfort is art, and, in my case, music.

That is why I must thank James Blake for crafting an incredible new album. It may not make me forget our crumbling society, but it certainly helps numb the pain.

Blake is an English singer, songwriter, and producer who has built quite an extensive resume over the past 15 years. Not just because of his impressive solo discography, spanning back to 2011, which encompasses a wide range of sounds: from art pop, soul, R&B, microhouse, techno, and more, and in which he constantly reinvents himself. Blake has also become a hot-ticket producer and a frequent collaborator on major artists’ music, from Kendrick Lamar and Jay Z to Rosalía and Daniel Lopatin. He was even a major collaborator with Kanye West for a time, until being friends with West became equivalent to wearing a very smelly shirt that said “I touch kids” on it. Regardless, Blake has always been a very busy man in the music world, and with his latest album, he shows how much he has learned over time.

Sonically, “Trying Times” sits almost exactly in the middle between Blake’s last two albums, the R&B and pop-focused “Friends That Break Your Heart” and the purely electronic “Playing Robots Into Heaven.” On “Trying Times,” Blake takes those two distinct sounds and merges them, leaning more toward R&B and pop, with plenty of string instrumentation and Blake’s characteristically angelic vocals, which, as always, feel like the sonic equivalent of immersing oneself in a warm, soapy bath. On the electronic side, there are plenty of tracks with deeply textured electronic production backing the vocals.

To begin with specific tracks, the opener, “Walk Out Music,” is set over sweeping, grand synths and stuttering percussion that become more embellished by the end as the synths buzz and intensify; it’s an ear-catching intro that immediately pulls me in. The album has more instrumentally dense tracks, with unusual instrumentation choices that ease the listener into its tone, including “Didn’t Come to Argue,” which features very bright synth melodies and a nearly joyous piano opening. To pigeonhole the album into one sound is a bit regressive. It instead experiments with a wide range of sounds, even if they ultimately circle back to “Gloomy Electro Art Pop” at the end of the day.

“Make Something Up” is a clear Radiohead pastiche, with Blake sounding eerily like Thom Yorke at points, and the guitar-led instrumental reminding me distinctly of “OK Computer” or Yorke’s solo material, such as “Anima.” There is also the track “Doesn’t Just Happen,” featuring rapper Dave, a gloomy, intense hip-hop track in which Dave delivers one of his best flowing verses I have heard, with the dark, violin-backed beat adding a layer of gravity to his delivery. There is also the title track, “Trying Times,” where Blake delivers one of his most soulful performances and some of his most romantic lyrics over a serene instrumental, giving the track a more human feel than some of the album’s coldest tracks.

The tone switch of the album happens after my favorite track, “Days Go By,” which has a more upbeat, uptempo instrumental despite its somewhat stark sound, with lovely skittering drum breaks adding to the track’s giddy feel, compounded with the heartfelt lyrics about spending time doing nothing with a loved one. The second half of the album is a moodier affair, with tracks like “Obsession” and “Feel It Again” creating these very somber sonic palettes to immerse oneself in. The major exception in this half of the album is “Rest of Your Life,” a driving progressive electronic pop track, with the production shifting about a quarter of the way through from an echoey, bare instrumental to a bouncy, rich beat, led by some of the grooviest percussion on the record.

Overall, the album is a very beautiful experience, as one has come to expect from Blake at this point, but with a broader sound and an even richer understanding of his style. It feels like Blake is still discovering new aspects of his music, even 15 years into his career. While it may suffer from occasional slowdowns and a few lulls on the tracklist, it is an album I can wholeheartedly recommend. Maybe it will make these trying times a little better, and failing that, it will at least make great study music.